Investigators early in the Jacob Wetterling search were focused heavily on Wetterling neighbor Daniel Rassier, so much so that they spoke to Rassier under hypnosis and at one point asked Patty Wetterling to talk to secretly record him.

In early September 2016, another man, Danny Heinrich confessed to capturing, molesting and killing Jacob on the night of Oct. 22, 1989. But court documents released Friday by the Stearns County Attorney's Office show that authorities long had their eyes on Rassier, whose long driveway ended at the spot where Jacob was grabbed.